Orridge's fines for Eskimos and Maas show increased strength of CFL office

For much of its history, the CFL has had much of the power held by particular teams with a rather weak central office, and much of the power inside those teams has been held by the football operations department, a setup that's significantly different from many North American sports leagues. The CFL has been moving towards a stronger league office focused on promoting and selling the game over the last decade or so, though, and Wednesday's news that commissioner Jeffrey Orridge has fined the Edmonton Eskimos ($25,000) and head coach Jason Maas ($15,000) for going back on their initial agreements to wear live microphones in Monday's game is a further indication of that. The language in Orridge's statement is quite interesting:

What's important to note here is that this isn't just about the specific issue of live microphones, but also about the power dynamics involved. Orridge makes it particularly clear that this isn't based solely on the Eskimos turning down microphones, but about the way they did it (going back on their initial agreement with little notice) and about them defying a directive from the league office and the board of governors (which includes an Edmonton representative).That's logical, but it shows how the power dynamics have shifted.

Tthe league office often hasn't been able to tell the clubs what to do, especially when it comes to anything touching on football operations, while clubs have frequently undermined commissioners (especially in the 90s and early 2000s). There have even been cases of secret loans from one club to another that two separate commissioners only found out about through the papers. Things started to change under Orridge's predecessor Mark Cohon, though, with the league office growing stronger in his later years in particular, and that's continued under Orridge. Just this year alone, we can throw in the Riders' pre-practice squad fine and Kent Austin's removal from the sidelines to make a case that the league office is both getting stronger and exercising its power more. CFL commissioners have always theoretically held the power to punish clubs, but much like governor generals, they've rarely exercised it. Now, it seems that the commissioner can do a bit more without provoking a King-Byng Affair.

From this corner, the league is absolutely right to fine the Eskimos and Maas, and they were wrong to reject the live mics. The actual value of live mics for viewers is debateable (there have been some highlights from these broadcasts, but they're not consistently a step above traditional ones; mileage may vary for different viewers, though), but having only one side wear them is a real problem, especially after the other side initially agreed to do so as well. It's not clear at all yet that any discernable advantage can be gained from watching tape of miked-up opponents, but that is a possibility. If every team does it, any advantage should even out in the long run (and add some extra strategy to the mental chess match of "we know that they know that we know"), but if a team like Edmonton chooses to opt out, that unbalances things. It's also good to see some pushback from the marketing side against increasingly-powerful and increasingly-paranoid football operations departments; not everything needs to be a state secret, and making everything one doesn't help to promote the game.

Live mics aren't terribly important in the grand scheme of things, but the Eskimos' football operations department insisting that their secrecy (which probably isn't really even needed) matters more than a league directive and an initiative to promote the game is the wrong note to sound. Orridge is right to blast them for violating a directive here, and his move to fine both the club and Maas and threaten suspensions for further disobeience is smart. The live mic initiative overall is also a sign of how the CFL's becoming more centralized, with more and more ambitious plans being run on a league-wide scale rather than by individual teams. That has some significant positives, especially when it comes to marketing and promotions.

The CFL may want to tread carefully, though. Attempts to control and centralize social media by the NFL just went extremely poorly, and that league's various discipline issues have shown the perils that can arise when a commissioner gets too much unchecked power. Orridge hasn't reached that stage yet, and his moves against teams so far have all been logical and supportable; it's particularly notable that this fine to the Eskimos comes for defying a board directive (which Edmonton's representative agreed to at the time), not a league office one. However, while a strong league office has its merits, and is probably something needed for the CFL at this point, it also has potential flaws. Fans and media members need to keep a close eye on a stronger league office, and to call them out if the punishments they hand out go from deserved to undeserved.